Lake Powell 2011

Chad and I did the math and figured this was the ninth time I had been to Lake Powell with his family and he has been going close to 20 years!! The only year we both missed was when Kennedy was just born. It's crazy to think we have been going that long! It's sad to say that there have been years where I have not taken one picture but this year I redeemed myself and took a ton.

Little miss Kennedy was in heaven! The boat rides were the most boring to her, although she still had fun. We could not get her out of the water, she loved swimming snorkeling, searching for seashells, building sand castles, fishing with grandpa and of course rockin out to Selena Gomez and Justin Beibier.

The little trooper even attempted wake boarding. It took a lot of coaxing but she got out there and gave it her all! I think between the board being too big and her still being pretty small, it may be a couple years before she gets up. I was sure proud of her for being tough and trying hard even though she didn't want to. A couple of days later we were by another boat that had a little girl and her dad out in the water attempting to ski and you could hear the little girl screaming her little head off. Chad and I were glad we weren't the only ones forcing our kid to have some fun. It's funny though she was so nervous to try it and then after a few times she kept wanting to try it. Sometimes as parents I guess we just have to force our kids to overcome their fears. Later in the week I helped her use the surf board kind of like a knee board and she liked that much better. Especially when we turned up her favorite songs.

Isn't this picture just to die for?!?! Taylor also loved the water. She is such a happy baby and besides constantly worrying about her having her life jacket on she was so easy going the entire trip. Slept, ate and played very very well! What more could we ask for. We just love this little sweetheart!

She was however constantly on the run! She is a busy little stink and always has places to go!

Just hanging out being cute.

I tried the surf board but was not a big fan, mostly because I sucked at it. I just stuck to the old trusty's the wake board and slalom ski

Chad was much better at the surfboard and made it look easy.

Kennedy and her cousin Tyson having a party!

They thought they were pretty funny switching hats and glasses, silly kiddos.

Here is another awesome one of Taylor! She is such a happy little bug!

Here we are on the beach when we had a campfire on the and cooked s'mores.

The girls.

Chad and I had been to rainbow bridge years ago but thought it would be fun to take the kids to see it. It was pretty cool because we were there a day after the anniversary of the discovery of it so there were park rangers there with lots of really interesting information. They even pointed out a real dinosaur print we would have never noticed on our own. Kennedy loved hearing how it was made and still talks about it and asks to go back.

Kennedy and Tyson with Grandpa.

Taylor and Ellie's cute baby bums on the way.

Taylor helping dad drive.

My sister in law Malissa and I with Taylor and Ellie.

So as we pulled up to the docks we noticed a crow stealing candy out of another boat that was docked with no one in it. We were all laughing and saying well that's what they get for leaving their candy out. Anyway we get back and totally didn't realize we had left Teddy Grahams and Cheez Its out and the crow ate them all. I guess that's what we get for laughing at the other guy. We all got a good laugh.

This picture is pretty hilarious too. The creeper is Uncle Justin. Good thing we got more than one or he would be dead meat for ruining our priceless family photo.

Chad's whole family minus his older brother's family who lives and Texas and couldn't make it. They were missed!

Crazy family photo!

Kennedy really wanted a picture in this little cave. It was such a fun little hike and even though we had been there before it was so cool to see how much Kennedy loved it and was so interested in it. It's only one of the 7 wonders of the world. Only six more to go!

Taylor is an expert at dirty looks. If only my rolls, dimples and dirty looks were this endearing.

Chad's cute Aunt Jan always plans a little treasure hunt for the kids. Mostly because Kennedy won't let her forget. I'm not sure who has more fun, us adults hiding all the treasures and planning the little hike or the kids.

We love Lake Powell and all of the fun memories we have made there!

Punkinaze

So I thought amongst all of the catching up I would throw in a few fairly recent events, just to mix it up a bit. It is a rare occasion that Chad gets home in time to do anything in the evenings before it's time for Kennedy to go to bed. A few weeks ago, he made it home in just enough time before Scouts to go to the Punkinaze with us. Kennedy was very excited!

She thought it was so cool that it was actually a maze and we had to try to figure out how to get out. We let her lead the way, and wound ourselves in quite a few circles before we finally made it out.

They had this barrel of corn with treasures in it. We found little pieces of corn around the house for days afterwards. :)

The big slide was by far the favorite. Kennedy went down every which way. Taylor of course slept through the whole thing. I'm excited for the day when Kennedy and Taylor can do things together. We had a lot of fun and we treasure these opportunities to do things as a family.

Happy Anniversary

So way back in May, we had our anniversary. We have been married for 8 (well now 8 1/2) years. I still sometimes feel like we are just starting out yet at the same time it feels like we were just a bunch of kids back then (so cliche I know!)

On our actual anniversary Chad got me these. They were so very pretty, I'm glad I took a picture so I could remember. We went to dinner at Rickenbacker's in Ogden.

A few weeks before, Chad needed to go to the auto auction in Vegas for some inventory. He planned a little mini getaway for us that weekend so we could have a little vacay before the baby came. The plan was while he went to the auction I would hang out at the hotel and catch some much needed rays by the pool. Well he left for the auction that morning and called me about 45 mins later saying a cab was going to pick me up and take me here. Chad loves surprising me, and of course, I love it too! He had a day at the spa all planned out for me. It was heaven!! Then I was able to sit my the most amazing pool afterwards while he finished up at the auction. What a guy!! He goes and works and sweats his hiney off while I go relax at the spa. I do wish he could have enjoyed the luxury as well. We went to the Palms and ate at a yummy mexican restaurant I cant remember the name but these crappy phone pictures are at the restaurant.

We got this shrimp for an appetizer hoping it would be reminiscent of Captain Bobby's on our cruise but not even close!!

My yummy virgin drink of some sorts. (I have a chubby face cuz I am preggo)

So glad to be married to the one who stole my heart now for 8 1/2 years. We have a lot of really good times and a lot of fun. We've had our share of rough times as well but it makes us who we are and I love US!

Meet Taylor!

So this post is one of those things I have been putting off. Not because I don't know where to start or because it's been so long, but because it's so hard to put into words what I think is one of the most precious, amazing things that happens to us while on this earth. But, I will do my best.

Thursday May 27th I had my doctor's appointment. He stripped my membranes just like he did the week before. My due date was June 8th but I was determined to have her in May. May is a good month. It's the month Chad and I got married. The week before I had some consistent contractions after my appointment but to my utter disappointment, they subsided. Needless to say, I was cautiously optimistic. I picked up my summer bonus check from the surgical center and then picked Kennedy up from grandma's. I wanted to go for a walk to get things moving along so Julie and I decided to walk along the trails by her house. I was timing my contractions the entire time. They were consistently inconsistent. I went home and was so sick of timing them I stopped and went about my evening. We went to bed and I had decided I was not going to worry about timing them any more. I slept well. Around 6 am I woke up, because I was having contractions. They were strong enough to wake me up so I decided to time them. They were close but not rush to the hospital close. I woke Chad up and told him they were pretty close. I decided to get up and see how I felt. The minute I got up they instantly got stronger to where I had to stop what I was doing during them. I told Chad I was just going to start getting ready to go. He kept asking me if I was serious, I of course said yes. We woke Kennedy up and got her ready to go. We were both taking our time. I did not want to be sent home for false labor! Chad called his parents to let them know we were bringing Kennedy up. I was getting a sense of urgency. Chad sensed it and as we were driving up to Pleasant View he started driving faster and faster. In between contractions I would say "you don't need to drive quite so fast and crazy, just calm down" Then a contraction would come, I was white knuckled gripping the door handle and Chad's hand. "HURRY!!! I FEEL LIKE SHE IS GOING TO FALL OUT!" We practically pushed Kennedy out the door (told her we loved her and would see her soon of course) but then we were on our way to the hospital. I about DIED when Chad told me we had to stop at the dealership on our way there. I told him he had 3 seconds and then I was driving myself to the hospital. He really was fast, ran in and right back out. I forget what he even had to do? We get up to the maternity floor and they of course are not in a hurry. It took me a long time to change into the hospital gown because I had to keep stopping because of the contractions. They get me hooked up to the monitors "Wow! These really are close, let's check you" I was like yeah, I wasn't faking it! They were even more surprised when they checked me and the sense of urgency I'd had for the last hour was finally shared by everyone else. They got my IV started and found my Dr who was already there. They told us who our nurse was going to be and we were so excited to find out it was the sweetest lady EVER! I work with her daughter and Chad's mom was good friends with her growing up. It was such a relief to know we were in such good hands and she couldn't have been sweeter! They take me back to the room and they check me again but stop because my water was so boggy they couldn't even check me all the way. They set up for delivery, and get my Dr. I was GBS positive so they had started the first of 2 antibiotics I was supposed to receive before delivery. They ask if I want an epidural and I said yes, so they contact the anesthesiologist. (I had toyed with they idea of not having an epidural because I was convinced that the one I had with Kennedy didn't even work so I knew I could do it, but when it came down to it I had no shame in saying YES, and boy was I glad I did!) The anesthesiologist was in on a c-section so I had to wait, but he made it in the nick of time. Compared to the resident with a lisp who attempted my epidural with Kennedy, this guy was amazing! It started working right away and it worked good! This proved my suspicions true that my epidural with Kennedy in fact did not work. Chad even made the comment "Wow! You are so calm!" Which is a little revealing to the fact that I was not calm when my epidural did not work. I felt great! A few pushes later and I got to meet this precious little girl for the first time!

Wow! I will always remember looking at her for the first time. She was so fresh and new but yet I felt like I have always known her. Chad and I both were amazed at how instantly we fell so overwhelmingly in love with her. She was and still is just the sweetest thing. (This is the part I find so hard to describe) It was a wonderful experience to be able to look at her and hold her as long as I wanted to. Such a contrast to the rush and hustle and bustle of Kennedy's arrival.

She was a whopping 8 pounds 6 ounces and very well done. She came with lots and lots of chubby rolls. We got to the hospital around 8:30 in the morning, Taylor Rae Oman was born at 11:04 am.

A very proud daddy!

Introducing Kennedy and Taylor for the first time was one of my favorite things. Kennedy had been so excited for so long. She was so gentle with her and very quiet.

Because Taylor came so fast, they were not able to get both doses of antibiotics in before she came. This put her risk for infection so she had to spend 4 days in the NICU getting antibiotics and was watched carefully for signs of infection. This was unexpected and a lot harder for me than I expected it would be. Each day we were told that the next day we may get to take her home which, 3 times was not the case. I of course was very emotional and just wanted to take my baby home. Where it was just a precaution to keep there it seemed to make it harder. I did not want them to miss anything but it was just hard having her there when she really wasn't even "sick" just had the potential to be.

I ended up being able to room in with her the last few nights. I loved just watching her sleep.

We were in this tiny room with no windows. Chad and Kennedy would come visit and we would all get a little stir crazy. We were ALL ready for the day when we finally brought her home.